Collusion worlds are colliding.
While likely not the “dramatic turn” that attorney Mark Geragos promised a week ago, the Colin Kaepernick collusion grievance has definitely taken a turn. And it could end up being very dramatic, because it involves someone whose name has been closely associated with allegations of a very different sort of collusion.
Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reports that Kaepernick’s legal team “is expected to seek federal subpoenas in the coming weeks to compel testimony from [President Donald] Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other officials familiar with the president’s agenda on protesting NFL players.” The interest in questioning the President and others close to him flows from the argument that the NFL and its teams colluded to keep Kaepernick unemployed in order to avoid the ire of the administration.
Robinson lists the various occasions on which the President and the NFL have skirmished over the anthem issue, with Kaepernick continuously at the heart of the controversy. From the President suggesting in the early days of the protests that Kaepernick should find another country to the President mocking owners for fearing a “nasty tweet” from the President if any of them sign Kaepernick to the President telling Cowboys owner Jerry Jones that the anthem debate is a “very winning issue” for the President to the “get that son of a bitch off the field, he’s fired!” rant at an Alabama rally, the President’s fingerprints are all over this one.
Forcing him to attach his voice to this one by answering questions under oath will be a far different issue, however. First, the NFL’s system arbitrator must decide that the depositions are justified. Next, a federal court must decide to issue and to enforce the subpoena requests.
Surely, the President and his team will fight the effort, every step of the way. Especially since it’s possible that any proof of interference in Kaepernick’s employment interests could possibly result in a claim that the President and/or the Vice President violated the law.
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